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jmc_bksAngieW’s TBR challenge for June: a book you picked up based on someone’s recommendation or buzz surrounding it.
The book I fished from the TBR: The Adventures of Alianore Audley by Brian Wainwright, © 2005.
Why did you get this book? I hadn’t ever heard of Brian Wainwright or Alianore Audley until I read Jayne’s letter to the author at Dear Author. I ordered a copy from Amazon based on the review, because it sounded interesting. After Keishon posted her review, I decided it would be my June challenge book.
Did you like the cover? I like the font and the colors. It took me a while to figure out what the pale image beneath the title was – first I thought it was an off-kilter pyramid, which made no sense, then I realized it was a woman wearing a headdress typical of the setting of the book. (I’m slow, what can I say?)
Did you enjoy the book? Absolutely. In fact, I am sorry I let it languish in the TBR pile at all.
Alianore Audley is a daughter of a baron, related by blood and marriage to both sides of the Wars fo the Roses; through luck and loyalty and sheer usefulness, she manages to stay on the good sides of a succession of kings – Edward IV; Richard III; and Henry VII. Taken for training by a "witch" as a young girl, Alianore ends up a maid in the house of the Earl of Warwick; then at Court; then as a spy in France; and then back to northern England, where is remains an intelligencer while in the household of Richard of Gloucester (who will eventually become Richard III).
The book is narrated in first person -- Alianore is smart and practical and sarcastic and likeable. I can imagine scenes from the book taking place on stage, with Alianore speaking to the audience with a smirk on her face. One of the reviews on the book cover uses "tongue-in-cheek" as a description, which is totally accurate. She calls things like she sees them, and is pretty blunt about everyone and anyone who crosses her path, without regard to status or history. George, Duke of Clarence? Lush. Edward IV? Horny and lazy, especially as he got older. Richard III? No sense of humor. Henry VII? Cheap bastard with bad teeth.
Wainwright mixes a huge amount of history with a lot of modern words and phrases falling out of Alianore’s mouth, which I assume is intentional, as a way to poke more fun and draw attention to some of the absurdities that she sees.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? New to me author, and yes, I would like to read more from him. I’m looking for his other book, Within the Fetterlock.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping it.
Anything else? I tried to think of another main character who is as snarky and mouthy as Alianore, but came up short. The closest I could come was MJD’s Betsy Taylor, but Betsy pales in comparison to Alianore. Where Alianore comes off as smart and aware of everything in her world, Betsy is shallow and self-centered.
The book I fished from the TBR: The Adventures of Alianore Audley by Brian Wainwright, © 2005.
Why did you get this book? I hadn’t ever heard of Brian Wainwright or Alianore Audley until I read Jayne’s letter to the author at Dear Author. I ordered a copy from Amazon based on the review, because it sounded interesting. After Keishon posted her review, I decided it would be my June challenge book.
Did you like the cover? I like the font and the colors. It took me a while to figure out what the pale image beneath the title was – first I thought it was an off-kilter pyramid, which made no sense, then I realized it was a woman wearing a headdress typical of the setting of the book. (I’m slow, what can I say?)
Did you enjoy the book? Absolutely. In fact, I am sorry I let it languish in the TBR pile at all.
Alianore Audley is a daughter of a baron, related by blood and marriage to both sides of the Wars fo the Roses; through luck and loyalty and sheer usefulness, she manages to stay on the good sides of a succession of kings – Edward IV; Richard III; and Henry VII. Taken for training by a "witch" as a young girl, Alianore ends up a maid in the house of the Earl of Warwick; then at Court; then as a spy in France; and then back to northern England, where is remains an intelligencer while in the household of Richard of Gloucester (who will eventually become Richard III).
The book is narrated in first person -- Alianore is smart and practical and sarcastic and likeable. I can imagine scenes from the book taking place on stage, with Alianore speaking to the audience with a smirk on her face. One of the reviews on the book cover uses "tongue-in-cheek" as a description, which is totally accurate. She calls things like she sees them, and is pretty blunt about everyone and anyone who crosses her path, without regard to status or history. George, Duke of Clarence? Lush. Edward IV? Horny and lazy, especially as he got older. Richard III? No sense of humor. Henry VII? Cheap bastard with bad teeth.
Wainwright mixes a huge amount of history with a lot of modern words and phrases falling out of Alianore’s mouth, which I assume is intentional, as a way to poke more fun and draw attention to some of the absurdities that she sees.
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? New to me author, and yes, I would like to read more from him. I’m looking for his other book, Within the Fetterlock.
Are you keeping it or passing it on? Keeping it.
Anything else? I tried to think of another main character who is as snarky and mouthy as Alianore, but came up short. The closest I could come was MJD’s Betsy Taylor, but Betsy pales in comparison to Alianore. Where Alianore comes off as smart and aware of everything in her world, Betsy is shallow and self-centered.
Oh, excellent
Date: 2006-06-30 01:38 am (UTC)Keishon